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John A. Zoidberg
}} Dr. John A. Zoidberg (voiced by Billy West) was born on the planet Decapod 10 and moved to Earth to practice medicine after giving up his dream of becoming a comedian. He has limited knowledge of human anatomy, once confusing Fry and Bender, even though he is a self-proclaimed expert on humans. He speaks, as all Decapodians do, with a heavy Yiddish accent. He is the nephew of famed eccentric movie celebrity Harold Zoid. On a number of occasions, Zoidberg has made mention of Bender being his best friend (How Hermes Requisitioned His Groove Back). Zoidberg is actually the alien discovered in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947 ("Roswell That Ends Well"). He lives in Professor Farnsworth's Alien Cross-Species Genetic Analyzer. A conversation Zoidberg has with the Professor in The Beast with a Billion Backs suggests that he is only staying with Planet Express because he is a slave, and must "earn his freedom." He is technically homeless, and very poor, being a very unsuccessful "internal medicine doctor". In fact, it is implied that Zoidberg does not actually have a medical degree. ("A Clone of My Own") Despite his professional incompetence, he has been drafted into the DOOP army as a MEAT surgeon. ("War Is the H-Word") In addition to his fake medical degree, he has degrees in murderology and murderonomy ("Anthology Of Interest I"). He is extremely poor and has stated several times he has no home. He usually eats from the trash or a dumpster and is envious of even the smallest amounts of money. He is excitable about his friends and is very trusting with the crew. The crew, meanwhile, shows signs of hating Zoidberg for no reason, though they all seem upset when they believe he has died in the fountain of aging ("Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles"). A composite of numerous sea creatures, Zoidberg's features have been myriad. His known attributes include a removable exoskeleton, a retractable head fin that indicates arousal or aggression, an ink gland, a "stink gland", a gland that emits foul odors when he's bored, an empathy bladder, a freshwater stomach, a saltwater stomach, four hearts, a throat that apparently produces psychedelic blue pearls, and a "wazoo". This last item is apparently some sort of sex organ, the place where the "male jelly" comes out for the mating of his species. It has been revealed that passing on genetic material is a life terminating event for these lobster people, so while the good doctor once informed Leo Wong that he "took the liberty of fertilizing his caviar" for him, which remains ambiguous as to what, exactly, transpired ("Where the Bugalo Roam"). Zoidberg reverted through several of the early "larval" life cycle stages of his species after being exposed to a youth tar. He seems to have started off as a small immobile creature from which asexually fragmented "brothers" could separate (each with a distinct personality). A later stage was a parasitic lamprey, followed by a large clam inside which his head was visible. The next oldest form resembled a trilobyte. Other stages included a sea urchin and a cuttlefish. ("Teenage Mutant Leela's Hurdles") Appearances Category:Characters Category:Aliens Category:Decapodians Category:Main Characters